Indian qualified lawyers will currently not be able to apply to practise law in England and Wales under the new Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme (QLTS) since yesterday (1 September), due to an oversight by the Bar Council of India (BCI), said the countries’ Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has published the preparation materials and model questions and answers for the new all India bar exam that is proposed to take place on 5 December 2010.

The law ministry is considering setting up a law firm regulator with a code of conduct to govern law firms in order to end the “free environment without any regulations”, reported the Hindustan Times.

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he Bar Council of India’s (BCI) ambitious weekend meeting decided to introduce draft lawyers’ ethics guidelines in two days and how to begin decreasing the number of law colleges in India. But due to time constraints the body had to postpone its decision on the entry of foreign law firms in respect of the Chennai writ petition, as well as Trilegal’s queries about converting to a limited liability partnership (LLP).

For once it seems the American law firms rather than the Brits publicly took the lead in India.

Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Gopal Subramanium said that the BCI would crack down on any recently enrolled lawyers who were practising law without having passed the proposed bar exam and that law colleges whose graduating law students did not take the bar exam could be derecognised.

The bar council of Maharashtra and Goa said today that it would oppose the proposed all India bar exam after a decision reached by 11 chairmen of different state bar councils on 31 July, although the body admitted that unless the Bar Council of India (BCI) or a court intervened the exam would go ahead.

After more than two months the Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa has agreed on its committee make-ups including the positions of chairman and Bar Council of India (BCI) delegate, as youngest member Karan Bhosale is proposing to radically increase computerisation through a new IT committee, roll-out wireless internet to the Bombay High Court and hike the welfare fund pay-outs.

The Supreme Court today outright dismissed one public interest litigation (PIL) against the bar exam filed by a Delhi University law graduate and issued directions to combine the pending national high court writ petitions against the bar exam for hearing before the Delhi High Court, as Friday’s Bonnie FOI case hearing was adjourned.

“The legal profession in so-called advanced countries is a product of Industrial Revolution whereas in India it is a product of Independence Revolution” — Mr Lalit Bhasin These are the words that made me think. Should foreign law firms be allowed in India? Are they necessary? Just as I questioned my...

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has responded to common queries and concerns about the bar exam, explaining that the BCI is discussing options to ameliorate lot of 2010 batch graduates, that legal challenges will cause no shift in timetable, and that the Rs 1,300 test fee is reasonable, answering questions relating to Rainmaker’s appointment to assist in the exam.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has set itself less than five months to kickstart the overhaul of Indian legal education, beginning with a revised accreditation requirements for law schools, phasing out three-year LLBs, introducing benchmarking of colleges, standardising the academic calendar, creating a new national curriculum and improving teaching and continuous education.

A group of law graduates from Delhi University have invoked the Supreme Court’s writ jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Indian Constitution as two students of the NUALS Kochi have filed yet another petition before the Kerala High Court against the all India Bar Examinations.

Is India a success story because or in spite of democracy? Compared to China, for example, hundreds if not thousands of different vested interests have made Indian reform painfully slow, if not impossible.

But in the legal sector someone is clearly trying to force a leapfrog.

A High Court bench in Maharashtra has ordered the petitioner students of Manikchand Pahade Law College to join the Bar Council of India vs Bonnie FOI Law College and Ors proceedings to set aside their grievances against the all india bar examin while it is understood that the BCI has written to the CJI to seek transfer of such pending petition to the Supreme Court (SC).

Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Gopal Subramanium said in a Legally India interview that he wants to reduce the number of Indian law colleges from 913 to 175 within a year as part of an ambitious overhaul of the legal profession’s regulation and education that will be announced this Thursday (15 July).

“I don’t think students are against the exam, only against the waiting period,” says solicitor general and Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Gopal Subramanium, who is the architect of the proposed all India bar exam. The exam remains controversial because this year’s final year students would not be able to practice law until 2011. Legally India asks the BCI chief some of the questions that have preoccupied students.

A 2010 Nalsar Hyderabad graduate yesterday challenged the six-month gap between bar council enrolment and passing of the proposed all-India bar exam, which would give litigating lawyers a “right to practice” only months after they graduate.

Four further law students from Panjab University’s law department have challenged the Bar Council of India’s (BCI) proposed bar exam, following four cases in the past two weeks challenging various aspects of the exam.

The bar examination has faced further hurdles in a fourth court case by a Karnataka student, while a group of protesting final year students representing a number of law schools met law minister Veerappa Moily last Monday evening, calling the exam an unfortunate decision taken in haste that could cost jobs.